The True Meaning of Christmas
by Shellzonfire
Summary: Team 7’s Christmas has never been like this, 'HOW CAN I CALM DOWN KAKA-SENSEI? Our food, Christmas lights and decorations were stolen and our tree just went up in FLAMES!.' Crack, Oneshot, Team 7, Slight SasuSaku. Merry Christmas!


**Shellzonfire:** Sick, I dibz the top.

Any who, this is a collab with _**Windy days and daisy chains **_and myself, _**Shellzonfire**_ We worked on this insanely long piece of work for... roughly 2 and a half days. **Christmas **is tomorrow, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to work together and bring Christmas cheer to the Naruto world.

And Egg Nog, especially the egg nog.

Now read to your hearts content. We hope you enjoy the holidays.

**Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!**

**Disclaimer:** I don't think Kishimoto writes on fanfiction.

**Summary: **Team 7's Christmas has never been like this. "Sakura, please calm down." "How can I calm down!? Our food, Christmas lights and decorations were stolen and our tree just went up in FLAMES!"

I won the rock, paper, sicssors battle for posting right. Cheya. xP

-

**The True meaning of Christmas.**

**ONE-SHOT**

**Collab avec**: _Windy Days and Daisy chains_

**-**

_**T'was the day before Christmas,**_

-

-

The sun shone brightly across the deep blue sky as its rays glimmered down on the frosty village. The streets were filled with people as they bustled round the shops, peeping through the glass windows or shuffling about to try and keep warm. Christmas sales were appearing and the festive cheer was settling in accompanied by large decorated Christmas trees and colourful lights dotted around the shops. Mothers dragging their children and laden in shopping bags while the supermarkets were filled to the brim in a wild chase for presents and preparation for Christmas.

It was a pleasant atmosphere filled with laughter and conversation, the holiday mood was setting in and a relaxed mood was settling over the whole village.

"_**NARUTO UZUMAKI! YOU HAVE 3 SECONDS TO STOP THROWING CARROTS AT SASUKE AND GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"**_

Well, _**most **_of the village.

There was an abrupt silence as villagers paused at the scream, and then with a shrug, they carried on with their daily activities.

Back to our lovely Haruno Sakura's house, the pink haired maiden grinded her teeth. Then mentally counting to ten, she whipped around with a serene expression. Gripping the wooden spoon in her hand she turned to the boy who had a sheepish expression.

"Naruto, I want you and Sasuke to go and fetch the tree."

Naruto blinked twice, "tree?"

Rolling her eyes the spoon went flying in a perfect arc.

_**BONK**_

"ITAI!" Naruto furiously rubbed his head, "what was that for Sakura-chan?"

Restraining herself from yelling at the blonde moron Sakura responded calmly.

"The Christmas tree you dimwit. I want you and Sasuke to go get it from the forest."

A look of realisation dawned on his face, but that was quickly replaced with annoyance, pointing an accusing finger at the Uchiha sitting in the living room. Naruto turned to Sakura, his cerulean eyes wide.

"But Sakura-chan why do _I _have to go with the teme?" he whined.

Sighing to herself, Sakura didn't reply and turned her back to Naruto, grabbing the knife, she started to slice the carrots and spoke with a hint of annoyance.

"I would have sent Kakashi-sensei but he _still _hasn't come back from the grocery store," then under her breath she muttered, "that moron better not have wandered somewhere else or I'm gunna jam these carrots right up his-"

"Yo."

'_Speak of the devil.'_

Sakura turned around to see her silver haired sensei laden with numerous bags of groceries. He walked over and dumped them on the kitchen counter; she and Naruto went to help him unload however a frown soon covered her face as she saw the contents of the bags.

"Kakashi-sensei…" the three males froze at the sound of her voice, Sakura looked up with a dangerous glint in her eyes, "I did not tell you to buy _shower gel _or _strawberry jam_, and half of these things are not even on the list!" With every word her volume increased, an alarmed Naruto backed away and toppled over the couch falling over Sasuke which sent them both flying onto the ground.

"And since when did the grocery store sell Icha Icha Paradise?" Kakashi gulped at the sight of the knife in her hand and laughed nervously.

"Now calm down Sakura," Kakashi grinned cheerfully, "You can never be too prepared and besides it's the Icha Icha Paradise _**Christmas Special**_. It's a limited edition."

"_PREPARED? YOU IDIOT I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TOOK SO LONG BUYING ALL THIS CRAP!"_

Eyeing the raging Sakura and terrified Kakashi, Naruto turned to Sasuke, "I think we should go get the tree," he whispered to him, Sasuke nodded and the two silently crept out of the door.

-

-

_**Flashback**_

"_W-Wow, Kiba sure is late." Hinata's fragile voice said as she stared at the clock. Team 9 sat down at the kitchen table of Kurenai's lovely house, waiting ever so patiently for their dog-like comrade._

_The tapping noise of Kurenai's nails hitting the tabled echoed out, as the room was otherwise filled with silence. Shino looked up at the clock and sighed._

"_Kiba's an hour late, and it's getting busy out there. I think we should decide whose doing what now, and let Kiba do what's left." Shino recommended. Kurenai and Hinata looked at each other and nodded.  
"W-Well I don't want Kurenai-sensei to strain herself too much w-with her b-baby in all, so I'll do the d-decorating around the house and on the t-tree that you got earlier Shino." Hinata suggested. _

_Shino nodded "I'll get food." _

_Kurenai smiled. "I'll wrap gifts and cook later."_

"_I'll h-help!" Hinata happily agreed to. Kurenai nodded. "So what does Kiba have to do then?"_

"_He can put the Christmas lights up on the roof."_

"_Alright, sounds good. Hopefully we can do this fast enough, and quiet enough before my baby wakes up. It was hard enough to get that child to slee –"_

_The sound of a door opening and slamming shut echoed through the house._

"_Hey guys, sorry we're late! Akamaru had to–"_

"_WAAAAHH!" the sound of a crying baby erupted from the upper level of the house. Kiba and Akamaru went into the kitchen, to find one embarrassed Hyuuga, Shino glaring at him, and Kurenai twitching._

"_Kiba." She said murderously. Kiba scratched the back of his head, grinning sheepishly._

"_Heh heh, what's up?"  
Shino walked up to Kiba and placed some money in his hand. "I think its best if you go get dinner, and stay away from the house for as long as you can."_

_**End Flashback**_

-

Pushing the cart down the long aisles Kiba skimmed the list then turned to his canine partner.

"Well Akamaru, looks like we need to take a trip to the frozen food section," Akamaru barked in agreement. Steering the cart to the left Kiba approached the fridges and scrutinised at the numerous bags placed in a neat order.

"Hm… what do you think Akamaru? This packet says its frozen vegetables are fresh and separately frozen while this one is half price…"

"……"

"Akamaru?"

Turning his gaze away from the bags Kiba turned to the dog, his eyes widened in confusion, Akamaru was acting very peculiar, his tail was wagging rapidly and his tongue was hanging out a trail of dribble hanging down.

Slightly worried, the Inuzuka placed a hand on his partners head; at once he pulled away as though he had just experienced an electric shock.

"What the hell…" his voice trailed off, Akamaru's whole body was trembling. Kiba followed to where his partner's dilated eyes were glued to and apprehended exactly why.

Across for them a giant sign was placed accompanied by a large stall filled with different assortments of meat and fish. His nose twitched at the strong smells of fresh meat as it wafted around them, he could see Akamaru start to pant and immediately recognised his behaviour.

"Uh-oh."

_**Whoosh**_

Then unexpectedly Akamaru rushed forward and with a shout Kiba latched onto the dog's neck frantically screaming for him to stop. However the dog was hypnotised by the luring smell of the meat and recklessly bounded forward through crowds of people forcing them to shriek and scatter. Kiba dug his heels to the ground but his efforts proved fruitless as the canine pushed off his attempts, throwing the terrified ninja onto its back.

Food was thrown everywhere and carts and baskets overturned. Nothing could stop the meat-crazed dog from reaching its goal. Hanging on tightly to his uncontrollable companion, Kiba could only scream for shoppers to move out the way as the giant dog raced past sending everyone in the market in a frenzy.

"Aaah!" the male ninja was nearly thrown off as Akamaru leapt off the ground sailing through the air. He could only hold on tight and yell as loud as his voice allowed him.

_**BAM**_

When they hit the solid surface Kiba was thrown off roughly and landed hard on the floor, through his arms he could see Akamaru happily gobble the meat, his animalistic manners causing pieces of meat to fly out. The assistant looked horrified as he pressed himself against the wall, terrified from seeing a large animal fly out of now-where and attack the produce.

"What is going on here?"

Both men looked up to see a tall stern looking man, dressed in a dark suit with the '_**manager**_' label securely pressed to his jacket, he looked down angrily from Kiba to Akamaru and to the staff member.

"The dog sir–it just came out of nowhere–and–and…" the assistant let out a weary sigh, "I seriously don't get paid enough for this." and promptly fainted.

Unfazed the manager turned to Kiba, "Well?"

Kiba shakily stood up and hauled Akamaru up from the stall; rubbing his head sheepishly he laughed nervously, "umm…Akamaru got a bit mad by the scent of the meat, heh gomen."

_**BRRRR**_

Two sets of eyes turned to the culprit as he licked his face and happily wagged his tail.

Minutes later Kiba and Akamaru went flying out the door; the large buff man slapped his hands in a satisfied way and slammed the door shut.

Dusting off his clothes Kiba stood up and turned to his companion, "now what do we do? All the other shops don't sell the stuff on the list!"

Akamaru barked in accord and the two walked off into the streets. They soon glimpsed a vision of blonde and vivid orange. Kiba called out and waved. Two figures stopped walking and the two members of Team 9 ran over.

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke," he greeted the two.

The Uchiha nodded back and Naruto slapped him on the back, "what's up Kiba!?"

Shrugging him off the Inuzuka scowled, "we just got chucked out of the supermarket because _someone_," he looked at Akamaru, "went a bit meat-crazy."

Naruto burst out laughing and the Uchiha merely raised an eyebrow in question, Kiba grimaced. "It's not funny you idiot! Now how am I supposed to get the food for Christmas? Kurenai-sensei was mad at me earlier; imagine what she'll do to me now!"

"Hey don't worry, if you need anything just come to our place! Even if none of us are around, take what you need!" He grinned confidently, "We'll help you guy's out."

"Really?" Kiba asked questionably. Naruto nodded happily.

"Anyway," Naruto and Sasuke walked past them, "we've got to go now. Merry Christmas! Say hi to Hinata for me!"

-

-

Flipping through the pages of the large recipe book Sakura hummed an unknown tune to herself. Unconsciously biting her rosy lips she opened the fridge and took out a large bundle. Dropping it onto the counter, she rolled back her sleeves and started opening the cupboards, taking out various utensils and turning on the oven.

With a pause she abandoned the kitchen and opened the outside door, peering her head through it she tilted upwards and shouted, "Kakashi-sensei, how are those lights going?"

There was a shuffle from above then a deep voice returned. "Everything is going fine Sakura, no need to worry."

Shutting the door Sakura continued humming to herself and retuned to the kitchen where she opened the bundle, "Now for the turkey," she voiced out loud, it was something new she was trying out; she had got from a recipe book from her auntie. Apparently it was very tasty and her auntie's family had it every Christmas, this was a great opportunity for Sakura to show off her fabulous cooking skills.

Transferring the turkey onto a new tray she grabbed the sharp large knife–the lovely weapon which she had recently chased her sensei out the door with–

–And while she was on that topic…

'_Heehee'_

Straining her ears for any sound a frown passed through her pale features. There was no noise, nothing, absolute nada. Opening the back door she quietly tiptoed outside, pushing her chakra through her legs she propelled herself off the fence and landed on her roof.

"_Heehee."_

Anger coursed through her veins as her last ounce of patience disappeared.

"_KAKASHI WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!"_

"Eh?" A dark eye looked up from his novel **–coughporncough**– and smiled cheerily with a wave, "hello Sakura how's the cooking going?"

A low growl escaped her throat and it was at this moment that Kakashi glimpsed the exceptionally large knife gripped rather tightly and the murderous aura emitting from his student.

"Kakashi," her voice was dangerously calm, the silver haired man slowly edged away, "why aren't you hanging the Christmas lights up?"

Kakashi swallowed, _'looks like I'm going to be seeing you sooner then I thought Obito.' _

"Well you see–Icha Icha Paradise Christmas Version has more an interesting plot, it's so good I can't put it down, heh you know–you should try reading–"

He was stopped in mid-sentence when a large bundle of lights was thrown his way, "Just get these lights up, I'll help."

While the two were on the roof Kiba and Akamaru arrived, neither groups noticed each other.

Ringing the doorbell the third time Kiba turned to his partner with a frown, "Where is everyone?"

The dog gave a bark and Kiba nodded, comprehending dog language, "yeah Naruto did say we could take what we needed even if no one was in."

Trying the door handle and finding it open the two walked inside, the smell of cooking food wafting from the kitchen, "okay boy, no trashing the whole place, I don't want to be at the end of Sakura's fists of fury."

Having a quick look at the list, then at the food laid around the kitchen the two quickly got to work.

"Okay so we need vegetables," in went the vegetables, "pies and pork rolls," the two went in as well, licking his lips Kiba approached the large turkey, all ready in the tray, "not forgetting this turkey."

With a loaded bag the two happily left blissfully unaware of what they had done. Minutes later a grumbling Sakura entered the kitchen.

"I can't believe that moron was reading his stupid porno books, geez what do I have to do to get things done around here!" she walked over to the counter and grabbed the non-existent tray, "now for the turkey–hey, wait what! WHERE'S THE TURKEY!" Horrified she frantically searched the whole kitchen, emptying cupboards and flinging open drawers, "WHAT THE HELL! How can a turkey just disappear?" Sakura scratched her head in confusion then let out a frustrate yell.

The back door opened and in strolled Kakashi, he looked from the ransacked kitchen to a distraught Sakura on the floor, "what's wrong?"

Pulling her pink locks, "A vanished turkey! That's what!"

A question mark appeared over the silver hair, "eh? The turkey _vanished_?"

"Yes the turkey has vanished!" another aggravated cry followed. "_Now _what am I going to do?"

-

-

"What an un-youthful Christmas." A man with a bowl shaped haircut, dressed in red spandex said as he sat down on a bench, putting his head in his hands.

-

_**Flashback**_

"_Gai-sensei, you're sick! Go lay down for a bit and relax!" Ten-ten's concerned voice said to her sensei. Gai blew his nose into a tissue._

"_No, no Ten-Ten. Today is Christmas Eve! I cannot leave my wonderful students to do all the… the–ACHOO!" _

_Gai grabbed another tissue from the table and blew his nose again. Ten-Ten shook her head in frustration, while Neji sighed. "Stubborn fool." _

_Ten-Ten put her hand behind Gai's back, helping him stand up from the chair he was in. _

"_Gai-Sensei, you need to go sleep. I'll take you to your roo–"_

"_Nonsense! I need to decorate this youthful house of mine!"_

"_Don't worry about it, Lee is bringing decorations." Neji stated. Right on que, the front door swung wide open, revealing Rock Lee, in red spandex, one hand full of Christmas presents, while the other with a box._

"_MERRY YOUTHFUL CHRISTMAS MY YOUTHFUL TEAMMATES!"_

"_Christmas is tomorrow." _

"_Ah Neji, today or tomorrow, the youthful delight Christmas brings will always be among us!"_

_Neji and Ten-Ten stood there speechless, as Gai cried tears of joy._

"_Lee, you speak true words! Now, let us see these decorations you have brou-ACHOO!!" Gai said while sneezing again. Tenten sighed. "Gai-sensei, go to bed now. We'll decorate and call you down in time for dinner. If you don't rest, you can't have dinner with us." She stated. Gai wanted to argue back, but knew his student was right._

"_Yosh, then to sleep I will go. Do not have too much fun without me!"_

_Gai made his way upstairs, as Lee set down the gifts in front of the tree, then put the other box on the table. His team gathered around it, as he put his hands on the box._

"_Behold, the decorations of Christmas youth!" he said lifting the lid off the box. Neji and Ten-ten gapped, totally speechless. Lee looked proud._

"_Don't all jump in at once! There's plenty to go around!"_

"_Lee…"_

"_Yes Ten-Ten?"_

"_You tied your spandex together to make chains, used some dried up grass to make garland and a reef, and these Christmas ornaments are tennis balls with strings on them!"_

"_I'm trying to save money and the environment. We need this youthful earth to survive!"_

"_You idiot."_

"_Lee, this won't do." Tenten said modestly. She walked over to the fire pit._

"_Ten-Ten, what are you–"_

_Lee stopped mid speech as he watched his decorations being thrown into the fire pit. Neji smirked._

'_Nice.'_

_Lee's mouth dropped. "B-B-But Ten-Ten…Why!?"_

"_Here, take this money and go find some better decorations before Gai-sensei wakes up. This is important to him, and garbagy decorations ruin everything!"_

_Lee put on his superhero pose. "I won't let you down Gai-sensei!" and with that, he bolted out the door._

"_Do you think it was a bad idea to send him out there by himself?" Ten-Ten asked as she turned to Neji._

"_He was never a good idea to begin with."_

_**End Flashback**_

"Alright Lee, its time to stop sulking! Ten-Ten and Neji are counting on you to get the best Christmas decorations in Konoha! YOSH, LETS GET TO IT!" he said to himself as he happily got up from the bench. He then happily made his way down to the nearest big box store.

Along the way to the said store, many other stores, and carts caught Lee's eye in the busy streets of Konoha. He happily browsed around as the day went on.

And **BAM**, it hit him.

**CHRISTMAS LEG WARMERS – 5 pairs for 10 sale! Get them while there still here!**

Lee gapped. "C-Christmas Leg warmers!? These are insanely and incredibly hard to find!"

And with that, Lee zoomed into the establishment, and grabbed a pack. Ah yes, 2 pairs of green leg warmers, 2 red pairs, and a white pair, with a Christmas tree on it that had mini light bulbs on it that lit up. Lee smiled to himself.

"Jackpot!"

He then zoomed to the cash, paid for his _Pièce De Résistance_, and booked it out of there. He smiled to himself.

"Thanks to this money from Ten-Ten, I look more youthful then before!"

Wait, oops.

That money was for decorations. He just used one forth of the money to buy something for his own needs.

'_Alright, I'll just return it.'_

Lee looked at the receipt, and in big letters, a big fat **NO REFUNDS OR RETURNS** popped up. Lee gasped, but then quickly regained his composure.

'_Alright, you made a little mistake. Just use the rest of the money to go get some more.'_

Lee began walking down the streets of Konoha once more, browsing for more decorations. Along the way, he passed the Yamanka flower shop. Said flower shop reminded him of a certain cherry blossom of Konoha.

'_I still need to get Sakura-san a gift! Flowers will fit this youthful occasion!'_

Lee went inside the shop and began looking around at flowers. He decided a pot of poinsettia's were perfect for the Christmas occasion. Ino was not in, but her mother happily assisted Lee in getting his flower.

Once he paid for it, Lee happily left the flower shop as it was now closing time for the shop. He had a triumphant look on his face.

"Yosh, Sakura-san is going to be soooo pleased!" he said aloud. He then remembered something.

That cost half of the money left Ten-Ten had given him.

"NO!"

Lee whirled around to the shop, and a big **CLOSED **sign stood right in the front window. His stomach sank down.

"No! I have failed!"

"Yo, Lee!" a voice said from down the street. Lee looked up.

"Oh, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun." he greeted the duo with a sombre look. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I was sent out to get some youthful Christmas decorations for my team, but I spent the money on some other things, and now I don't have enough money to buy decorations! I failed Gai-sensei!" he said sobbing. Naruto looked at Sasuke, who shrugged.

Naruto patted Lee on the shoulder. "Don't worry Lee! Go back to Sakura-chan's! She has tons of decorations I'm sure she'll let you use!"

Lee looked up with admiration. "Really?!"

Naruto gave Lee an uncomfortable smile, after realizing he'd be near Sakura. "Uh… yeah!"

Lee bowed to Naruto and Sasuke. "Thank you both! Now I can stop by and drop of this poinsettia for fair Sakura-san!"

Sasuke and Naruto's eye twitched, as they watched Lee ran off.

-

-

"What, the hell happened to that Turkey!?"

Sakura frantically ripped apart the kitchen, trying to find that big piece of meat. Seriously, how hard is it to find?

'_**SHANNARO! Whoever stole that turkey is turning into mince meat!'**_

"WHAT!? THE VEGETABLES ARE GONE TOO!"

"Eh, Sakura, you may want to relax…"

"How CAN I relax when our dinner vanished!?"

Kakashi sighed. "Alright, well I'm going to go rea–"

"Aw hell no! You're not going anywhere! You keep searching here in the kitchen, while I go look around the rest of the house!" she ordered Kakashi as she walked past him out of the kitchen.

Sakura went into the next room, the family room and found nothing. She began pulling at her hair.

"How can a turkey vanish like that!?"

_**DING-DONG!**_

"Come in!" Sakura hollered loud enough for the person on the other side to hear. She continued her search as the said person entered the house.

"Merry Christmas youthful Sakura-san! How are you doing!?" Lee said happily. Sakura continued looking around the house, opening any door, looking under any table.

There was a turkey missing.

And she was going to find it, if it was the last thing she would do.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said hardly paying Lee any attention, as she opened the closet and looked through it. Lee arched an eyebrow.

"Uh, are you busy at the moment?"

"No, not at all! I'm just happily ripping apart my house looking for a turkey!"

"Oh well, to help you feel better, I brought you this!" Lee said giving Sakura the pot of poinsettias. Sakura grabbed the pot and blinked.

"Awh, this is… sweet Lee."

Lee smiled and gave Sakura a thumbs up. "Anything for you Sakura-san!"

Sakura sweat dropped and placed the pot on a table within the hallway, and then continued her search.

"Also, I am here in an ask of help."

"Uh huh…" Sakura said still not giving her full attention to the boy in red spandex and blinking leg warmers.

"Naruto-kun said I could borrow some decorations and I was wondering if that would be alright."

Sakura was shuffling through so much stuff, she couldn't hear Lee correctly.

'_He's doing some calculations? So he wants a calculator?'_

Sakura shrugged and continued looking around.

"Yeah, go ahead."

Lee grinned. "Thank you fair Sakura-san! You have saved me from the wrath of Ten-Ten!" Lee said happily as he skipped into the living room, where all the decorations were. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Wow, Ten-Ten must have some temper to get mad over some calculations."

Once in the living room, Lee found a box full of decorations and grinned.

'_Sakura-san is so gracious!'_

Once he grabbed the box, he headed into the hallway, but Sakura was no where to be seen.

"Sakura-san!?"

"Uh, yeah Lee I'm in the other room."

Lee turned to his left and saw another room in. he poked his head in and saw Sakura still looking around.

"Thank you once again! I'll return this stuff in soon time!" he said happily, and then left. Sakura looked up.

'_Stuff? Wasn't it just a calculator?'_

Sakura poked her head out of the room, but Lee was no where to see. Sakura shrugged.

"Wow, he must need a lot of calculators to make a calculation THAT big."

-

-

"Come on teme! Get your chicken butt over here!"

……

"Dobe."

The Uchiha male slouched over at a slow pace while his team-mate skipped merrily a few paces in front. They were soon passing more and more trees and greenery, the houses slowly decreasing, the sounds of birds chirping and wildlife moving all around them filled the Uchiha's ears as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and gave another inaudible sigh.

"Oie Naruto!"

Looking up he observed two figures merge from the trees, the larger of the two waved at them, his red hair covered by the large tree he was holding while the other male followed with a bored expression, he nodded to the Uchiha who returned the gesture.

The blonde waved and ran over, "hey Chouji, that's a cool tree."

The large ninja transferred the tree to the other side so he could talk to Naruto, "yeah, Shikamaru found it. Ino said that if we didn't come back with a good tree she would tie us to it and ship us to Tahiti."

Naruto opened his mouth as if about to say something, "… Where's Tahiti?"

Silence, is **_golden_**.

"….No idea."

Rolling his eyes at the two Shikamaru spoke, "hey Naruto do you have any Christmas lights we could use? The shops have sold out, and if we don't bring that home either, we're on a one way trip to Tahiti."

"Sure, just go to our house, I'm sure Sakura will have some, oh and don't worry, if no one is in! Just take what you need," Naruto finished with a grin.

Chouji smiled at the blonde, and glanced at his watch, "We need to get going Ino will be waiting," the two waved farewell. "Merry Christmas!"

Once the Shikamaru and Chouji had disappeared Sasuke turned to Naruto, "won't Sakura be angry if people keep barging in and asking for things?"

Naruto looked up thoughtfully, "I don't think so, Sakura-chan likes helping people!" he grinned at the Uchiha, "Come on we need to find a good tree!" When Sasuke had walked past and into the forest Naruto's grin faded and was replaced with nervousness.

'_I just hope Sakura-chan won't be too angry' _he shivered_, 'I don't want to be in hospital on Christmas Day.'_

Walking through the thicket of trees Naruto searched high and low for a good tree, finally finding it. The sun shone through the branches seemingly emitting a bright light, Naruto's eyes sparkled as he slowly stepped forward.

"Found it."

The harmonic tune stopped and Naruto whipped around to the person who had ruined the moment. Sasuke stood with a smirk on his face clutching in one hand a tall slender tree, its branches all intact with a beautiful shade of brown bark, a far better choice.

Folding his arms Naruto childishly sulked, _'man why does he get the best of everything, my tree is way better then his!'_

"Well tough Sasuke-teme, I've found a better tree then that–that–that piece of dog shit! Yeah!"

Emotionlessly Sasuke looked up blankly at the blonde, "I doubt that."

With an indignant look Naruto marched over to his tree, "this one is way better looking!" He shouted with a triumphant grin.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, the tree had bits of bark missing the branches were nearly falling off and there was a strange smell coming from it, "you can't be serious, that thing looks crap."

Naruto's face turned red, how dare that bastard insult his tree like that? His tree was _**magnificent!**_ The best out of them all and no hormone-less idiot was going to change that!

"Oie don't diss my tree, you can't stop me from taking it home! Sakura-chan will love it!"

Suddenly Sasuke started to perform a few hand signals, Naruto eyed him wearily, his grip tightening on his tree–whom he had named ki-chan, "eh Sasuke-teme? What are you doing?"

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"**

"Aaah!" on reflex Naruto jumped out of the way as fireballs came flying his way, landing on different trees, as well as his beloved 'ki-chan.' He watched with anime tears streaming down his face as his beloved tree crackled and toppled down into the licking flames Pointing a finger at the silent yet amused looking Uchiha, Naruto snarled.

"You bastard! How could you do that to ki-chan?!"

Sasuke smirked at the blonde perched on a branch, "you said I couldn't stop you," he turned around and started to walk back, "but I just did."

Anger filled Naruto, pulling out an explosive tag he attached it to a kunai and flung it at the retreating Uchiha. Sasuke sensing this quickly whipped around and avoided the weapon; however his tree was not as lucky. Its height was its downfall and as the kunai collided with the wood, Sasuke disappeared as the tree exploded, shattering pieces of wood all around.

"Che," Naruto looked around to see a black blur, "you're going to pay for that. **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!**"

-

_5 minutes later_

The two bodies panted with exhaustion as they raised their arms up about to perform more hand signals. One of them loosened their arms and looked around then turned back to his opponent.

"…Um Sasuke-teme… how are we going to find a tree now?"

"Hn," the other male grunted and looked around, the whole area was covered with debris and burning wood and not one single tree in sight.

"We've destroyed everything! Now we're going to have to use a really crappy tree," the blond whined, "Sakura-chan is going to _kill _us!"

"…… No shit."

-

-

"ARGH! I GIVE UP!"

Sakura leaned against the counter top of her kitchen area, angry. She checked everywhere, and still, no sign of a Turkey.

Kakashi patted her on the back. "Now, now Sakura, you can cook! Just make something else."

**BING!**

That little light bulb inside Sakura's head went off. She got up with a determined look on her face.

"**Shannaro**! Your right Kaka-sensei! I have my auntie's book, and I can cook!"

She ran around the counter and looked through her aunts cook book and made a list. Kakashi peered over his student and smiled, returning to his book.

"Alright, I'm done! I'm running out to the store for a little bit. Take care of the house, and watch out if that Turkey thief comes back!" she said suspiciously. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"It was stolen?"

"What other excuse do I have when Naruto and Sasuke come back?"

Kakashi nodded and waved to Sakura as she went out the door. Once out of range, he sighed.

"Stolen? Teen's these days." He said shaking his head. He then stretched his arms and yawned.

"I could use a nap."

Kakashi went to the couch in the family room and plopped down, with his book right on his face. With that, he drifted into a silent slumber.

_**Outside, however.**_

"Hey Shikamaru, are you sure Sakura is going to be okay with this?" Chouji asked his comrade. Shikamaru shrugged.

"As much as I know asking the baka was a bad idea, we have no choice. Do you really want to be shipped off to Tahiti?"

"I don't even know where it is."

"All the more reason to get the Christmas lights."

"Ah hey look! There's Sakura's place!" Chouji pointed to the well lit house. LCD lights illuminated the little house. Shikamaru and Chouji went up to the door and rang the doorbell.  
_**DING DONG.**_

No answer.

"I don't think anyone's in Shikamaru."

"What gave you that idea?"

"Well, Naruto said we can take what we need, so why not take the lights off the house?"

"But they're using them, but then again…"

Shikamaru thought about it for a moment. Either they get the lights off the house and make Ino happy, or not get the lights and get shipped off to Tahiti.

Plus, if they did get in trouble from Sakura, _Naruto_ was the one to blame, AFTER ALL, he did say take what you need.

Shikamaru sighed. "Alright, I'll get on the roof. You catch the lights."

Chouji nodded, as Shikamaru jumped up onto the roof, slowly undoing the straps holding the lights in place.

"Damn, this is too troublesome."

Shikamaru stopped for a moment, and looked around the roof. Did they go crazy or what?! They had reindeers that lit up, a Santa sleigh, and an arrow pointing to the chimney.

'_May as well take all this stuff too. Ino will be pleased at least.'_

"What are you guys doing?" a voice said from behind Chouji asked. Both Shikamaru and Chouji turned around, and were greeted with the ever so passive Sai, holding gifts in his hand.

"Oh, hi Sai!" Chouji said happily. Shikamaru nodded from his position on the roof, as Sai nodded back.

"So, why are you on the roof?"

"Ino wants us to get Christmas lights, and all the stores are either closed or sold out."

"So you're stealing our lights?"

"No, Naruto said we could take them!" Chouji said. Sai nodded.

"I'll help." Sai said. Chouji and Shikamaru looked at each other and nodded.

"Alright, come up here and help me take these troublesome things off the house."

-

-

_**Elsewhere in Konoha…**_

"WHAT!? CLOSED!? SOLD OUT!?"

Sakura shrieked loudly. The store clerk who was sweeping outside put his hands over his ears.

"Calm down little lassie. We had a 'problem' earlier, which caused us to close."

"But, you were my last hope! All the other stores have nothing for a Christmas dinner!"

The clerk just shook his head. "Well, you're out of luck."

Sakura looked down in defeat. "This is the worst Christmas, **EVER**! When I found out who stole my turkey, they're in for it!" she said stomping away. The clerk blinked.

"Merry Christmas?"

-

-

"Thanks again Sai! You're not as bad as Naruto says!" Chouji said smiling, as he had the Christmas lights wrapped up around his shoulder, while having other decorations in his hands. Sai gave a fake smile.

"No problem. Merry Christmas fat–"

Chouji glared, as Shikamaru quickly put his hand over Sai's mouth.

"Are you crazy!?" Shikamaru whispered to Sai. Sai said nothing, as Shikamaru took his hand away.

"We'll be going now. Merry Christmas."

Sai waved bye as the duo left and went down the street. Sai proceeded to the door of the house, grabbing his gifts. He turned the knob.

It was open.

'_Odd.'_ Sai thought. Shikamaru and Chouji said no one was in. Sai shrugged and headed inside, closing the door behind him.

"Hello?"

No answer. Sai took off his sandals and headed towards the family room. Once inside, he stared at the couch.

"Kakashi?"

Kakashi was sound asleep, muttering little 'heehee's!' while in his slumber. Sai raised an eyebrow.

Then at that moment, the front door opened, and a very aggravated voice came in.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" she yelled. Kakashi jolted up from his slumber.

"Where's the fire!?"

"KAKASHI-SENSEI WHERE IS–Sai?" she said surprised. Sai stood there smiling.

"Hey ugly."

"When did you get here?" Kakashi asked.

"A few minutes ago."

Sakura stood there with an angry expression. "Can someone _**please**_ tell me where the Christmas lights have gone?"

Sai pleasantly replied, "Chouji and Shikamaru took them, apparently Naruto said they could take anything they wanted."

"WHAT!?" Sakura was literally fuming at the blonde blockhead while Kakashi had anime tears streaming down his face, "y-you mean all m-my hard work! All g-gone to waste!"

"GONE TO WASTE!? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GUARDING THE PLACE!"

_**DING DONG**_

Infuriated Sakura stormed over the door, ready to give Naruto a one-way trip to Konoha Hospital. "NARUTO YOU BAKA! WHY DID YOU–What, the HELL is that!?" she said pointing to the 'thing' in Naruto's hand.

"Heh, don't you love this tree Sakura?"

Sakura looked disgusted, it could hardly be called a tree, the branches were falling off, some of them charred, and the whole thing strangely smelt of burning.

She glared angrily at the two, "you call THAT a tree? Hell it looks more like a skeleton! Why didn't you pick another tree?"

Naruto rubbed his head and with a sheepish laugh replied. "Well, you see Sakura-chan there wasn't much choice–"

"–You mean there were _no _other better trees then this?" Sakura interjected, getting quite tired of the whole ordeal.

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged very suspicious glances, _'what she doesn't know won't hurt her.'_

"The rest were crap."

Four heads swilled round to face him, Sakura blinked back from shock, "Sasuke?"

The Uchiha met her eyes, "Hn."

With a loud sigh the pink haired girl threw her hands in the air, "Fine! Do whatever you want! I'm going to see if there's anything we can have to eat seeing as our dinner got jacked!" she announced dramatically before storming back into the kitchen. Something clicked in Naruto's head.

'_Whoops!'_

A silence overcame the room as the four males looked at each other; finally Kakashi stood up and walked over to where Naruto was holding the tree. Observing it, he looked down at the two, "I don't even want to know why it smells of smoke but we'd better get decorating before Sakura really looses her tolerance."

The two boys nodded.

"I'll go get the decorations." Naruto announced going into the living room. Sasuke and Kakashi took the, tre-err, twig with branches, and placed it in a holder. Naruto peered out of the room with a confused look.

"Where'd all the decorations go?"

Sakura zoomed from around the corner. "What!?"

"Where's the decorations Sakura-chan? There's none in the living room."

Sakura froze. "No, not those too!" she ran into the living room, and gasped.

"WHAT!? There gone! First the turkey, then the lights, and now the decorations!? They were here when Lee came by asking for a calculator!"

Naruto twitched. _'Oops. She probably didn't hear him right! '_

"Uh d-d-don't worry Sakura-chan! Me and the boys will think of something!" he said trying to lighten up the mood.

Sakura glared at him. "You better or there WILL be hell to pay."

Sakura stomped her way back into the kitchen, as Naruto went into the family room, scratching the back of his head.

"Where are the decorations?" Sai asked. Naruto chuckled nervously.

"Well you see…"

"Rock Lee took them, because Naruto said he could." Sasuke said making a long story short. Naruto glared at Sasuke.

"Teme!"

Kakashi sighed. "Alright boys, if we make Sakura any more mad, Christmas is over. We'll need to make some decorations now."

"How?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Someone go pop some popcorn. We'll put it on a string and wrap it around this…'Tree,' and now that Sai is here, he can draw up things and we can put them out and hang them from strings on the tree."

"Kakashi-sensei, you're a genius!"

"Yes I knew that. Now, who's popping the popcorn?"

Everyone went silent. "I ain't going in there. Sakura-chan will kill me!" Naruto backed out.

"Well, there's only one person suited for this job." Kakashi, Naruto and Sai all at the same time turned to the stoic Uchiha, who raised his eyebrow.

Sasuke grunted in annoyance. "Fine."

"Sasuke-teme, you are one brave man."

Sasuke then got up and stalked out of the room, and into the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, he saw Sakura scrambling like a mad woman.

"Kakashi-sensei, why did you have to go and buy such useless things!?"

"Sakura."

Sakura jumped when she heard her name. She turned around.

"Oh, Sasuke! Uh, do you want something?"

"Hn, the idiots sent me here to get some popcorn."

"Popcorn? Why do you need popcorn?" she asked curiously.

"To decorate the tree," Sasuke shortly replied.

Sakura opened her mouth about to say something but quickly closed it, it was better not to ask. Wordlessly she opened a cupboard and handed a jar of corn followed by a pot into Sasuke's empty hands. "Have fun!" she said with a grin and turned back to the recipe book.

Staring at the two objects for a moment the Uchiha placed the pot on the stove, added a bit of oil and poured some corn into the pot, and then he switched on the stove and waited.

His eyes wandered over to the bustling Sakura, her hair was tied up in a messy bun, more hair was down then actually up, a pink apron covered her red sweater and blue skinny jeans, she was quickly darting here and there from the recipe book and back to the shopping bags, rooting in them.

"Why did Kakashi-sensei buy scotch tape? What am I going to do with five rolls of scotch tape? This dish soap might come in handy, not to mention these plastic cups, Naruto is always breaking my glass cups when he comes over."

_**POP**_

A loud popping noise followed by many other similar noises filled the kitchen, Sasuke didn't bother to turn around, he would wait until the popping noises stopped and then collect them all.

"Um Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked up when he heard his name being called.

Sakura on the other hand was torn between horror and amusement, as she watched the stove become infested with popcorn, "you do realise you're supposed but the lid _on top _of the pot," she giggled. "The popcorn's flying everywhere."

Sasuke's onyx eyes widened a fraction, then he turned around and started to pick up the flying popcorn, he was soon joined by a pair of pale hands, Sakura smiled at him, "it'll be easier if we both do it."

Silently the two picked up the flying popcorn and dropped it back into the pot, however more and more popped up showering them in popcorn, Sasuke grunted in irritation as one of them hit his head, "Sakura where's the lid?"

"Oh," running to a cupboard Sakura shuffled through it and reappeared with a lid, sidling in between Sasuke and the stove she rammed the lid onto the pot, the vibrations of popping corn running through her body. Suddenly she felt something warm and a firm pressure on her hands. Opening her eyes she was shocked to see Sasuke's hands pressed firmly on top of hers, they stayed like that for a while pressed against each other until the popping ceased.

Lifting their hands off the lid Sakura turned her head, finding herself dangerously close to Sasuke she felt a blush rising, "t-thanks S-Sasuke."

"Hn, No problem." he reached over her and Sakura shivered when his breath hit her ear, pulling back Sasuke poured the popcorn into a bowl and left the kitchen. Sakura stood there for a second, a part of her missing his warmth.

'_What just happened?' _

-

-

"Sai, this teddy bear ornaments looks like a rabid dog."

"Well you obviously don't know what a bear looks like dickless."

Naruto's eye twitched. _'Apparently, he doesn't either.'_

"Relax boys, no fighting. Sai continue drawing. Naruto, continue hanging up ornaments."

Naruto snorted and turned to the 'tree', continuing hanging up the ornaments Sai was making. Due to Sai's creative drawings, the tree didn't look half bad.

"Man, what's taking Sasuke so long?"

Right on que, Sasuke came in with a bowl of popcorn in hand.

"What took you so long? What did you do to Sakura-chan!?" Naruto started instigating.

"Hn. Get to work dobe." Sasuke said pushing Naruto aside. Naruto growled, but contained his anger and continued hanging up ornaments.

Kakashi grabbed a knitting kit he went and found, and pulled out a needle and tied some thread onto it. He then handed it to Sasuke.

"Start threading."

Sasuke stared at Kakashi's hand. "You have arms."

"But my right hand is busy holding a _sacred_ book, while my left hand is holding my eggnog. Now, start threading."

Sasuke grunted in annoyance and snatched the needle from Kakashi. He then went, sat down and started threading. Naruto loomed over Kakashi's egg nog.

"Hey, can I have some?"

Kakashi thought about it for a moment… would he really want a drunken Naruto?

"No."

"Come on Kaka-sensei! Just a little"

"Do I need to get Sakura?"

Naruto froze and admitted defeat. Annoyed, he went back to the tree and looked at the Christmas ornaments.

"Sai, get a little more creative. They all look the same." Naruto said annoyed. Sai grunted and continued drawing.

The room was silent, except for an occasional jutsu Sai would say, creating the ornaments and the Christmas music coming from the kitchen. It was now at least 6, the sun had set and Christmas day was only a few hours away.

Kakashi was pleased. This was one of the few times he heard silence all day.

"SAI YOU BASTARD!"

Or, it was.

"What now?"

"Look!" Naruto said showing Kakashi the latest ornament created by Sai. Kakashi suppressed the laugh coming in from within.

"He drew me! He gave me an afro with hair picks and clips pointing out, and I'm wearing a Scottish kilt while wearing tights!"  
Sasuke smirked, while Kakashi sighed.

"He told me to get more creative."

"Not like that Sai!"

"So what? You want me to draw you with an actual dick next time?"

Sasuke and Kakashi knew what was coming next.

"You bastard!" Naruto lunged at Sai. The two rolled around as Naruto tried attacking Sai. The table with popcorn went flying, which ticked Sasuke off. Then Kakashi's eggnog went flying into the tree, causing it to fall over. Sasuke and Kakashi looked at each other and nodded. Sasuke grabbed Naruto, as Kakashi grabbed Sai.

"Dobe, calm down!"

"Let me go teme!"

Naruto managed to pull Sasuke down to the ground, causing Sasuke to let go of him and roll to the side, near the door way.

"Hey guys look what I made from my aunts recipes! A flaming puddAAHHNG!"

Sakura had entered the room with a pudding like cake lit, a famous English desert she found in her aunt's book. However, she did not see Sasuke on the ground, and tripped over him. The flaming pudding went flying in the air and coincidently, landed in the tree, and due to the egg nog spill, which contained some whiskey, became an active fire starter.

Sakura landed on top of Sasuke, breaking her fall. Sasuke however grunted as Sakura's form landed on him. Sakura blushed and looked at Sasuke.

"Oh, S-Sasuke!"

Sakura broke out of her trance as the sound of fire igniting echoed through the room. All 5 heads turned to the tree in horror.

Kakashi reacted fast and ran into the kitchen, grabbing the fire extinguisher. He then came back into the family room and pulled the trigger on the extinguisher, as it began deflating the fire. Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and Sai could only watch as their beloved work was sent up in flames.

"M-My tree!"

"My drawings."

"M-My pudding!"

"My eggnog!"

Once the tree was safely coated in foam, the five of them flopped onto the couch, staring at the ceiling in silence until Sakura finally spoke.

"Well I'm not cooking again."

Naruto perked his head up at this, a light bulb suddenly popping up in his mind,

"Ramen?"

The others were too tired to stop the blonde as he energetically raced around the kitchen, tearing up packets of instant ramen, the smell of beef wafting in the room.

A few minutes later Naruto appeared with a tray of five steaming bowls, setting them on the coffee table he sat down next to Sasuke and happily slurped down the noodles. Sakura looked down blankly at her bowl; she didn't really have an appetite anymore after spending nearly the whole day in the kitchen.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto stopped slurping and looked over at his friend, "How come you're not eating"

Her angry cry captured the male's attention and they all looked up.

Running a hand through her hair she stood up, "_This _is what's wrong! It's our first Christmas together as team 7 since Kami knows how long and look how it's turned out!

"Sakura, please calm down–"

"How can I come down!? Our food, Christmas lights and decorations were stolen and our tree just went up in flames! Face it; _THIS IS THE WORST CHRISTMAS EVER!"_

With tears running down her pale cheeks, Sakura gave them one last look before running upstairs and slamming her bedroom door shut. The four sat in an uncomfortable silence before Sasuke stood up. "I'm going to bed," he silently trudged upstairs; the sounds of a door closing were heard. Next Sai stood up and nodded to the two before disappearing.

Naruto turned to Kakashi with a defeated look, his cerulean eyes dull.

"This is my entire fault, if I hadn't been so generous then Sakura-chan wouldn't have become so upset and Christmas would have been fun."

Kakashi merely smiled and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto your heart was in the right place. Don't worry, everything will be fine."

Kakashi removed his hand from his shoulder and disappearing upstairs.

Sighing Naruto placed the empty bowl back onto the tray and stood up, he looked through the windows where light white snowflakes were gently floating down, the lights of houses illuminated and laughter and shouts could be heard.

"I hope you're right Kaka-sensei."

-

-

Rubbing his whisker marked cheeks Naruto trudged downstairs holding in another yawn.

"Man I'm thirsty."

It was dark outside and the clock on the wall showed half past twelve, the houses was deathly silent as Naruto wandered downstairs to quench his thirst.

A sudden memory appeared in Naruto's mind and he immediately brightened up. Kakashi had left milk and cookies out, and since _Santa didn't exist_ it would be a total waste to leave them out. Licking his lips the blonde chuckled to himself and quietly tiptoed over to the family room.

"Mhmm, cookies and milk!"

Naruto made his way to the table, where the china plate resided. Naruto, mouth drooling, came to a sudden stop. The plate had crumbs on it, and the cup of milk was empty. Naruto cocked an eyebrow.

"Where'd the cookies and milk go?"

Naruto's ears perked up. The sound of shuffling feet alerted his senses. He whipped around.

"Who's ther–Santa? Jiraiya?!"

Naruto blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the sleep from his eyes. Once he had his full vision back, he scouted the room.

No one was there.

'_Was I hallucinating?'_

Naruto thought about who he saw. He was an old man with white hair, and he was wearing red.

"Santa?"

Naruto blinked again and then grinned. "Nah! There is no such thing as Santa Clause."

Naruto then proceeded to the kitchen, getting a drink of milk. He then tiredly made his way up back to his room, creped to his bed, and lay down. Naruto turned to his right side, where the window was. A smile appeared on his face.

"Merry Christmas." And with that, Naruto went into a deep slumber.

Outside on the roof, an old man began chuckling, reading over a Christmas letter sent to him.

_**Dear Santa,**_

_So I know you don't exist, but Sakura-chan is making me do this for the spirit of the holidays. Anyway for Christmas… there's nothing I want really. I have my family of friends, and that's enough for me really, although an endless supply of ramen would be nice. Yes, that would make my life __**complete.**_

_But this Christmas, I do want it to be the **BEST** Christmas ever, one that will make Sakura-chan smile like crazy, and one that would make Sasuke-teme realize how much he means to this team. A Christmas that isn't so commercialized with gifts, but is one full of love, one where gifts mean nothing, and the company of another means more then anything._

_I don't sound like myself, but hey, there are two sides to every coin, just like there are two sides to Uzumaki Naruto!_

_Also, if you could make me Hokage, that be great._

_And the ramen. __**NEVER**__ forget the ramen._

_**Merry Christmas old man,**_

_**Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage of Konoha.**_

The old man had an amused smile plastered on his face, as he ruffled the hairs of the reindeer in front of the pack.

"Ho, Ho, Ho. Merry Christmas, Uzumaki Naruto."

_T'was the night before Christmas,  
With all the shinobi's snuggled in their beds.  
Kiba brought home a feast, to which his team was fed.  
__Gai was oh so proud of Lee,  
__For his decorations stood out for all to see.  
And even Ten-Ten and Neji were pleased!  
Shikamaru and Chouji made Ino happy,  
__For their Christmas lights display didn't turn out half crappy.  
__Tsunade dreamed of her delicious sake,  
__While Shizune suffered from a massive chronic headache.  
__Kohonamaru slept on the couch by the tree,  
__While Ino dreamed of a massive shopping spree!  
__Chouji happily sighed as he devoured down some cookies and tea,  
While Shikamaru glanced at his mother and though how 'troublesome woman can be.'  
__Shino's bugs began to hum,  
__Happily singing, in no need of a drum.  
__Kurenai held her child close and wondered how Asuma could be,  
While Hinata smiled at a picture on her table labelled "Naruto and me."  
__Ten-Ten happily gazed out the window at the lovely site of snow,  
__While Neji tried to help Gai get back to bed, in the process stubbing his toe.  
__The ninja's of team 7 laid in bed sound asleep,  
__Frustration, annoyance and anger relieved.  
__The events of today ruined the Christmas fun,  
__**But tomorrow, wait till they see what Santa has done**_

_**Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.**_

_**(Hm, Neji stubbed his toe! That just shows how much Shellzonfire can rhyme. -.-)**_

-

-

"Merry Christmas!" Naruto said happily entering the kitchen. Within the kitchen, Kakashi leaned against the counter, Sasuke sat down on one side of the table and Sai sat back on the other end.

"Merry Christmas dickless."

"Shut it Sai."

Naruto glanced around the kitchen, and noticed a certain someone was missing. "Is Sakura-chan not awake?"

The three men shook their heads. Naruto went and began making some ramen for breakfast, much to the disgust of Sasuke.

Footsteps echoed throughout the hallway, and all 4 men turned to the entrance of the kitchen.

In came Sakura, with gifts in her hand, and a sadden look on her face.

"Merry Christmas guys!" she said happily, but in a low, sad-like voice. Sakura went and put the gifts down on the table. She then put her hands together and looked at the 4 boys, who all had their eyes glued onto the pink-haired Kunoichi.

Sakura bowed down. "I'm sorry everyone." She then got back up and looked at each man. Once done gazing at them, she looked down.

"I was so set on making this Christmas the best Christmas ever, that I didn't realize what the true meaning of Christmas is."

Sakura paused and took a deep breath.

"Christmas isn't about the gifts, or the food, or the tree, or the decorations, or any other festive stuff for the matter. Christmas is about spending time together, being grateful for what we have. It's about _**us.**_ I guess I got so caught up in it all, I forgot what Christmas was. Please forgive me for my blindness."

Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Sai stared at Sakura with looks of admiration. It took a lot of guts to prove a flaw.

Sakura smiled and placed her hands on the stack of gifts.

"Well, I still got you all gifts, so here they are! Merry Christmas guys!" she said happily. Naruto jumped.

"Apology accepted Sakura-chan. And if were giving each other gifts, let me go get my gifts! They managed not to catch on fire from last night!" he said happily exiting the kitchen and going into the family room. Just as Sakura was about to hand Kakashi her gift, a loud scream came from the family room.

"EEHH!? GUYS COME HERE!"

All four shinobi gave each other a look of confusion. They all then made there way into the family room. Sakura was the first to make it.

"Naruto are you–WHOA! Where'd it all come from!?" Sakura said with happiness written all over her face. Kakashi, Sasuke and Sai came up from behind Sakura and stared in amazement at the display in front of them.

"SANTA CAME! HE REALLY CAME! THAT FAT MAN DOES EXSIST, AND MAN DO I LOVE HIM! LOVE HIM, LOVE HIM, LOVE HIM! HE EVEN BROUGHT US A TREE!" Naruto exclaimed happily, gazing down at all the gifts in front of him. When Naruto says Santa left tones of gifts, Santa left the freaking mother load!

Sakura was on the verge of tears. "This has to be, the _**best**_ Christmas ever!"

Sai gave a genuine, real smile. "Well, instead of standing and doing nothing, let us celebrate."

Kakashi and Sasuke nodded in agreement. Naruto began ripping the first gift he found apart. He began crying anime tears.

"Santa got me every single kind of Ramen known to man! Oh, how I love that fat man!"

The rest of team seven smiled at their blonde comrade. Naruto then picked up a gift and looked at the tag. He then threw it to Sai.

"It's for you."

Sai stared at the gift, and then slowly unwrapped it.

A new drawing pad. It came with 10 different coloured pencils and two paint sets. Sai looked at it and smiled.

"Aww kawaii!" Sakura squealed and squashed her pink teddy bear in her arms, next to her Sasuke unwrapped a blue box, smirking at the sight of new clean shuriken and sharp kunai expertly twirling them around.

"Oh my," Sai, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto turned around to see Kakashi fall to his knees gripping a box.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"I-It's the whole Icha Icha Paradise pack! All books created, Holographic covering and the MOVIE!" Gripping the package closely to his chest Kakashi looked up, anime tears streaming down his face. "And the limited bonus book as well! Oh happy days!"

In the background Sasuke and Sakura's eyes twitched while Naruto's mouth fell open, Sai looked curious.

"What are those books about?"

At once three voices simultaneously answered.

"You don't want to know."

**THE END.**

_**Or so we thought…**_

Sakura's eye twitched viciously. She slowly turned to Sai with a murderous look.

"Sai, why did you get me a paper bag for Christmas?"

"To hide your ugly face of course. Now you won't be embarrassed in public no more."

**Twitch.**

"SHANNARO!"

_**THE VERY END!**_

_**Wait! Hold up! There's still more!**_

"Alright guys, get in a little closer to each other. The camera lens can only fit so much."

"Dobe, would you hurry up and take the picture?"

"One second teme! Photography is an art!"

Naruto readjusted the lens one last time and looked at his team. A Christmas picture was the perfect way to end the Christmas fun with!

"Alright, say cheese! I'm putting the timer on for 5 seconds!"

Naruto put the timer on and made his way towards his team. Along the way, he tripped over his box of ramen, causing him to fall into the tree. The after bounce of it sent Naruto and the tree flying into his team-mates.

**Click.**

A simultaneous chorus rung out from the rest of team seven.

"NARUTO!"

A picture's worth a thousand words. This picture is worth,

_A million._

_Merry Christmas!_

_**CE FINI!**_

-

-

**Windy Days and Daisy Chains ****– **_hola people! Okay so I hope you enjoyed the one-shot, I and Mish Potato spent so long on this, we hope you loved and laughed your asses off, coz I can tell ya we had a great time doing it, please review and tell us what you think! _

**Review! its a christmas present for us!**

**This is from me and Shellzonfire –**

_**MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!**_


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